Let Jews carry guns for self-protection, leading rabbi urges EU

The biggest Jewish association in the EU has called on lawmakers in Brussels to let Jewish people carry guns “for the essential protection of their communities” in the aftermath of Paris shootings.

“The Paris attacks,
as well as the many challenges and threats which have been
presented to the European Jewish community in recent years, have
revealed the urgent need to stop talking and start acting,”
saysa letterwritten this week by Rabbi Menachem
Margolin, general director of the European Jewish Association
(EJA), the biggest federation of Jewish organizations all over
Europe.

The EJA said the four Jews killed in the Paris grocery store
during last week’s attacks in France “were murdered in cold
blood for no other reason than being Jewish.”

“We hereby ask that gun licensing laws are reviewed with
immediate effect to allow designated people in the Jewish
communities and institutions to own weapons for the essential
protection of their communities.”

The association also asked the EU authorities to allow the Jewish
population to receive “the necessary training to protect
their members from potential terror attacks.”

“Let there be no doubt, we are asking that all weapons will
be issued for self-protection only, and to designated personnel
that will undergo thorough investigation and training by local
authorities.”

The letter calls on Brussels to recognize “the warning signs
of anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance that once again
threaten Europe and our European ideals.”

“As you know, the danger is that much greater as many
Europeans travel abroad to be indoctrinated into radical Islam,
before returning to their European homelands to use their
militant training to devastating effect.”

Margolin told RT that “there are too many Jewish people who
feel insecure in Europe.”

“There are too many parents who don’t feel comfortable…to
bring their child to the Jewish school because they are not sure
if the child would come back in the evening alive. There are too
many parents who are afraid to come to the synagogue.”

That’s why the Jewish community is demanding that European
governments “make sure that the entire Jewish institution in
Europe will be completely secure,” he said.

“What I am asking is that the good people, those who live
under danger, will be able to protect their life. Otherwise we
might be again in the situation and we won’t be surprised if
another time an attack against a Jewish institution is going to
happen, people will be dead without any possibility to protect
their life.”

On Friday, Jewish schools in the Belgian cities of Brussels and
Antwerp decided to cancel classes over terror threats.

“We were informed that we are a potential target and
therefore we are taking no chances,” Isi Morsel, head
teacher of Belgium’s largest Jewish school, Jesode Hatora, told
AFP.

‘EU needs anti-Semitism body’

A delegation from the European Jewish Congress (EJC) spoke to EU
foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday, calling on
Brussels to create a pan-European body to combat anti-Semitism.

“Now more than ever, the European Union needs to create a
position and organization specifically geared toward finding
long-lasting solutions for anti-Semitism and other forms of
racism,” EJC president Dr. Moshe Kantor said.

Kantor added that it is “incumbent on the European Union to
urgently place combating anti-Semitism as one of its highest
priorities because this is a hatred that transcends borders and
cannot be dealt with by any single nation on its own.”

One of the countries that has attracted thousands of Jews over
the last two years is the UK. However, according to a YouGov
poll, commissioned by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA),
Britons are not so tolerant toward the Jewish population, as
about 45 percent of Britons hold anti-Semitic views.

Following Charlie Hebdo attacks, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
invited Jews from France and the rest of Europe to immigrate to
the state of Israel, referring to what he sees as a “rising
tide of anti-Semitism” there.

At least 7,000 Jews immigrated to Israel last year, fearing
anti-Semitism in the EU. Israelis officials expect a new influx
of immigrants following the Paris attacks.

"On Monday I am going to make Aliyah [the term meaning the
immigration of Jews from the diaspora to Israel]," Yohan
Cohen, one of the hostages who hid inside a freezer at the kosher
grocery store in Paris told AP. "We are not going to wait
around here to die."